I havent had collection professionally valued as little point in my mind. I guess most of us will know the value of our books ie the cost to replace (not the amount purchased for) better than any valuer you could find as realistically they are very unlikely to be specialised enough.

In the event of a claim the onus is firmly on you to prove ownership and value. The first can be easily evidenced with photos and documentation. So long as you have these you could then price up up at any time even fer a loss. Or I have a running list of all my books and i update once /twice a year with current values or costs needed to replace.

Even if you had a professional valuation that does not mean an insurance company would automatically pay this figure. For example you might have valued a peoples of middle earth book at £600 to replace following the one sold a few years ago. In reality it would cost £300 max to replace now so this is the figure that would be paid.

Most insurers cover books within standard contents cover but you need to make sure you have enougth total cover and no specific item maximums.

Personally i have increased my basic contents cover to cover my books ,have a mass of photos on a USB stick stored along with list of items which i review once a year or maybe more often if i buy a signed Silmarillion!

Hmm, I'm not sure. While I have no evidence either way (regarding books specifically) & don't want to test this suggestion --I don't see insurers asking for photographic evidence for anything else that is insured. High value electical items & gold/silver etc only require to be specifically named. They don't ask for receipts & photos before paying out.

BH

Posted on: 2012/2/21 11:34

_________________You drive a hard bargain – you can have it for £10 all-in – one consolation (for you) is that you do not have to hear the cries of my children, for bread...

Well merged.I am not saying they would ask for photos but would normally insist on evidence. If say books were water damaged then it I'd likely you would still have them so that would be the evidence . However imagine if they were stolen- they would almost certainly ask you to prove their existence and your ownership especially if worth a lot of money. My recommendation remains log your collection and take a mass load of photos and most importantly make sure all your contents plus books are the total insured amount.

Seriously, I don't think (books aside) you always need evidence of items, if they are stolen. I've never heard of anyone having a mobile phone stolen, for example, and having to prove the original purchase; or if they even still owned it (say, two or three years after purchase) when a house was broken into, for example. Do you? When you get contents insurance (aside from individual high value items) have you ever been asked by your insurer to provide evidence of why you want, say, £50,000 worth of insurance? Your clothes, furniture etc --why would you have proof of these items, or their value?

I'm sure books, in regard to collectors, would differ. But there's no real reason why they should.

BH

Posted on: 2012/2/21 16:12

Edited by Khamul on 2012/2/22 15:13:13

_________________You drive a hard bargain – you can have it for £10 all-in – one consolation (for you) is that you do not have to hear the cries of my children, for bread...